Human rights watchdog critical of tougher refugee regime

Posted
November 22, 2012 08:51:00

Australia's human rights watchdog says the Government's new crackdown on asylum seekers appears to undermine the protection of their human rights and compound their suffering. Refugees processed in Australia won't be allowed to work and will be made to wait for permanent visas for the same amount of time as those sent offshore, which could be as long as five years.

TONY EASTLEY: Australia's human rights watchdog says the Government's new crackdown on asylum seekers appears to undermine the protection of their human rights and compound their suffering.

Families and children are now being sent to Manus Island and asylum seekers processed in Australia won't be allowed to work and will be made to wait for permanent visas for the same amount of time as those sent offshore, which could be as long as five years.

The president of the Human Rights Commission professor Gillian Triggs says releasing asylum seekers into the community is a welcome development, but she is critical of other measures.

Professor Triggs is speaking here to Alexandra Kirk.

GILLIAN TRIGGS: The real question is what are their rights as asylum seekers in international law, and they are entitled to have their claims to asylum status processed.

It's becoming clear that in a context in which their claims are not being processed, this is adding to their distress and ultimately to their mental illness, to instances of self-harm and threatened suicide.

It applies not only to those on Christmas Island but the many thousands I might add who are in Australian detention centres who've arrived since the 13th of August as well as those on Nauru and Manus Island.

ALEXANDRA KIRK: But beyond that, you are powerless to do anything. Is that correct?

GILLIAN TRIGGS: My capacities are for the commission to review complaints and for me to speak out publicly as an advocate for government compliance with human rights standards.

Now that is admittedly not a very strong or enforceable role but I do believe that government and the public will start to listen. With the greatest respect to the good faith of the advisory panel, I think they have taken us down a very wrong path.

Curiously the Government was actually quite quietly managing the position before the asylum drownings and the appointment of the panel. We really had a quite quiet movement of asylum seekers into the community and assessment of their claims.

And now since the 13th of August we have a situation which is significantly worse than this and requiring that many thousands of people are held without assessment of their claims and apparently indefinitely in a way that I believe runs a risk of being in serious breach of international law.

ALEXANDRA KIRK: But isn't your problem that a majority of voters support what the Government is doing?

GILLIAN TRIGGS: That appears to be the case and I assume that the polling of both parties suggests that.

But I'd suggest a different approach and that is that with leadership I am absolutely sure that the Australian people could start and would eventually begin to understand that this form of inhumane treatment of people fleeing conflict from some of the most dangerous parts of the world, that we will start to think in a more humane way as to how we can manage this problem.

TONY EASTLEY: The president of the Australian Human Rights Commission professor Gillian Triggs speaking to Alexandra Kirk.